“I … think I understand.”

“You do not now,” Amrothlin said. “But to grow to full kingship, you must. Orlith wants you to feel that—not know it with the mind—” He touched his head. “But feel it, know it in blood and bone. When you do, then you can not only feel the taig—discern, as you do now, whether it is healthy or not—but heal it and use it.”

“Use?”

“To raise the taig. When called by someone of power, the forest taig can act—can maze human senses, herd men almost as a shepherd herds sheep, even resist some evil forces: health against sickness, you might think of it.”

“So … I go on spending a turn of the glass every day trying to feel more and more of the taig, is that it?”

“Not so much trying … more letting the taig come to you. The taig is easily frightened at times—it is like a shy child. If you are patient, it will come. Orlith cannot teach you much more until you can touch smaller elements than trees.”

“How long will that take?” Kieri thought of all the other tasks awaiting him … and the possible need to have the taig on his side if an invasion came. And how could the taig be both easily frightened and any help against an invading army?

Amrothlin laughed aloud. “Nephew-our-king … that is such a human question. It will take as long as it takes, and longer if you are impatient.”

“I will do my best to be patient,” Kieri said. “But it would be impolite to teach patience to my Council by making them wait longer for our daily meeting.”

“Neatly said,” Amrothlin said, with a warmer smile than usual. “And as courtesy is never haste, let us show them courtesy and begin.”

That Council meeting and those following concerned mainly the coronation, now barely more than two hands of days away. Kieri himself found it hard to concentrate on other matters when the palace staff bustled about preparing guest rooms, taking down the winter hangings and pulling out formal decorations. Day by day the tension grew. A tailor came to measure him for the new clothes the occasion required. In one room, green-draped tables held a rapidly increasing array of gifts.

Dorrin came for a last visit, early the morning she rode away, and eyed the changes with amusement. “Have you ever seen a coronation?” she asked.

“The prince’s father’s,” Kieri said. “But in Tsaia the rituals are very different … as you will see, at Midsummer.” He led her into the room he now used as his study, and shut the door.

“If I can,” she said. “If I can hold things together.”

“What was the training like?”

“It was … a delight,” Dorrin said. “Much easier than I expected, as if I were remembering skills, not learning them. Paks thinks it is the years I spent as your captain; the Knight-Commander thinks it’s my age and experience both, and Falk’s blessing.” She gave a quick precis of the tests she’d passed.